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International cocoa sector mourns Baah-Wiredu
Accra, Sept. 26, Ghanadot/GNA – The Cocoa Producers’
Alliance (COPAL) has expressed shock at the sudden passing
away of Finance Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu last Wednesday,
saying it is a great loss to Ghana and the cocoa sector.
“It was with great shock that I learned of the sudden death
of Honourable Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr
Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, I honestly do not know what to say,”
COPAL Secretary-General Hope Sona Ebai said in a statement.
He described Mr Baah-Wiredu as “a great son of Ghana and a
great champion of cocoa and sort of a cocoa farmer.”
“It is my personal loss. I have not had the kind of access
to any Minister in charge of cocoa in any member State of
COPAL as he gave me; a true brother and a friend,” he added.
COPAL is an intergovernmental organization instituted in
January 1962 by representatives of the governments of five
cocoa producing countries at a meeting in Abidjan, Côte
d'Ivoire.
It currently has ten member countries, namely, Brazil,
Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Ghana,
Malaysia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe and Togo.
The member countries of the Alliance account for
approximately 75 percent of total world cocoa production.
By his position as Finance Minister, Mr Baah-Wiredu had
oversight responsibility for the cocoa sector.
In a related tribute, the Federation of Cocoa Commerce (FCC)
Limited also expressed sympathies at Mr Baah-Wiredu’s death.
“I was very shocked to read the passing of your Finance
Minister. We extend our deepest sympathy on behalf of the
FCC Council and our membership to his family and to his
colleagues within the Ministry which has such a close
connection with cocoa in Ghana,” wrote Mr Philip M. Singley,
Chief Executive of the Federation.
The FCC recalled a meeting it held with Mr Baah-Wiredu in
London in January this year, saying they discussed cocoa and
energy matters, “and he was a tremendously nice man.”
Mr Baah-Wiredu, 56, died in a South African hospital after a
short illness, a statement from the presidency said last
Wednesday.
He assumed the Finance portfolio in 2005 after previously
serving as Minister of Local Government and Rural
Development, and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports.
GNA
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